Paladin Labs to sell Nuvo's anesthesia patch in Canada

(Reuters) - Nuvo Research Inc NRI.TO said it has granted Paladin Labs Inc PLB.TO, a specialty pharmaceutical company, exclusive rights to market and sell its anesthesia patch in Canada.

Paladin will pay Nuvo a double-digit royalty on net sales of the patch in Canada and lend it C$8.0 million in two equal tranches. The loan, which matures in May 2016, will bear an interest of 15 percent per annum.

The patch, Synera, uses Nuvo’s proprietary controlled heat-assisted drug delivery technology and combines lidocaine, tetracaine. It is approved in the United States for use in superficial dermatological procedures.

The patch is applied to the skin before painful medical procedures such as blood draws and needle injections.

Shares of Mississauga, Ontario-based Nuvo rose as much as 18 percent to 10 Canadian cents on Monday morning on the Toronto Stock Exchange. It was one of the top percentage gainers on the exchange.

Montreal-based Paladin’s shares rose about 2 percent to C$43.00.

Reporting by Bhaswati Mukhopadhyay in Bangalore; Editing by Roshni Menon